


Three Words

by rudbeckia



Series: candyfloss marshmallow fluff [4]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-01 12:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13998360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: A few prompt-based fics on the theme of saying “I love you.”Prompt list here:prompts from tumblr





	1. With no space left between us

Kylo knew he had to be quick when he heard footfalls. The force dampeners would only be off for a second and after the first time he’d been moved, when he had fought and killed and tried to run, he’d have too many weapons trained on him to overcome them all. 

He prepared by slipping into meditation. It felt meaningless with only the contents of his own head to focus on. Where he should be flooded with the force there was complete absence. He missed it like he’d miss a severed limb.

The bars in the door rattled and the lock clanged and clicked. Still Kylo waited for his one opportunity to say what he never had, and the omission preyed more heavily on his conscience than all the carnage he’d caused with his lightsaber and all the blasters and cannon fired on his command.

In his cell in a different wing of a different prison on a different planet, Hux looked up and smiled as Kylo’s image sat cross-legged on the floor, looking as real as if he was always there and no space could keep them apart. Kylo smiled.  
“I love you.”  
Hux smiled back.  
“I know.”


	2. Over a cup of tea

General Hux stared at his reflection. He frowned at the dark shadows under his eyes and the pallor of skin that rarely saw sunlight. The glare of the lighting in the small ‘fresher tinged his face with an unhealthy hue. 

He checked his chrono. He’d been awake for almost thirty hours and had last experienced true sleep in a comfortable bed more than five standard days ago. Hux glanced at the end of his bunk, visible through the open door, and sighed. He washed his face in cold water, combed his hair back into place and set his features into a professionally stern expression then walked the few steps from his command quarters back onto the bridge. 

He’d return to his luxurious suite and sleep when the galaxy was his.

Another wave of x-wing fighters launched from the resistance base they’d failed to blast from the surface and from the battle cruisers tantalisingly perched in orbit around the curve of the planet, flying and flocking like so many, many starlings. Hux barked orders and the TIE fighters, a dwindling swarm, poured out to meet the enemy again. 

He ignored concerned glances from Captain Opan and disdainful looks from Peavey. He was in control. He didn’t need sleep like others did. He was 

_weak willed thin as a slip of paper and just as useless_

stronger than anyone here and more determined to win. The rebellion would die before he did and he would be remembered as the man who brought order to the galaxy.

Hux felt the presence behind him before he saw heads turn and quickly look back down at their consoles. Hux found a smile.  
“Supreme Leader. What an honour to have you on the bridge.”  
Kylo looked at Hux and for once Hux found his expression impossible to decipher.  
“I demand a personal report on the progress of this battle, general. Your quarters will do.”  
Kylo turned and walked away. Hux swallowed and his smile faltered. In his peripheral vision, Opan radiated sympathy and Peavey sneered.  
“Very well, Supreme Leader. Um. You have the bridge, Captain... Opan. Let no rebel scum escape.”

It was a small victory to see Peavey snarl but Hux needed it. He followed Kylo into his command quarters and closed the door. He had all he required here for when duty kept him on the bridge but fatigue overwhelmed him: an office with a sofa and a desk, a small bedroom and a private ‘fresher. Kylo Ren sat on the desk and pointed to the sofa. There was a flask on the side table.  
“I brought you something.”  
Hux opened the flask and sniffed, then fluttered his eyelids in pleasure at the familiar, bitter scent of strong tarine tea. He sat down and sipped from the flask.  
“Thank you, but why?”  
Hux regarded Kylo’s uncertain expression. He mentally composed a status report but sensed that Kylo was not interested in the minutiae of losses and damage estimates. Kylo shifted from the desk to perch beside Hux.  
“Because it wakes you up. Because I sense others waiting for your order to retreat so they can crow about failure. Because you’re the only one who understands how much it matters to me that we crush the rebels under our heels.”  
Kylo waited for Hux to set the flask down. He took Hux’s hand and held it between his, eyes holding Hux’s confused gaze.  
“Because when you’re in battle you’re like a lylek that has scented blood and I love you for it. Now, get us closer to their main ship. I sense she’s there.”


	3. In awe, the first time you realised it

The first time is a rushed affair. After a tense audience with Supreme Leader Snoke, Kylo Ren backs General Hux up against a bulkhead, rubs against him and kisses him hard. Kylo means it as an insult and is surprised by the intensity of desire it releases in Hux. They act on it quickly and furtively with desperate, groping hands and hungry mouths then fix their clothing and go their separate ways.

The second time is equally unplanned, but softer. Hux knows Kylo will resent having been rescued from Starkiller and will blame him for it. He accompanies Kylo’s stretcher to a medbay and waits while sutures and bacta are applied and Kylo is in recovery. Perhaps his wrath will be diluted by his condition. Kylo is furious, but not with Hux. Hux offers to escort Kylo back to his quarters to prepare for his next audience with Leader Snoke. Once there, Kylo catches Hux staring at his scars and stands half-nude before him.  
“See something you want?” taunts Kylo.  
“Not quite,” replies Hux, walking forward and wondering if he has the nerve. He draws his lower lip through his teeth as he fumbles for the catch at Kylo’s waistband, pulls it open and tugs the garment down over Kylo’s hips. As Hux sinks to his knees, Kylo closes his eyes and sighs out praise.

Hux and Kylo find more excuses to be in each other’s personal space. On return from Crait, Hux needs the new Supreme Leader’s authorisation to summon reinforcements from the Unknown Region. The day after, Kylo seeks the General’s input on military strategy. Each private meeting ends with sated smiles and a cordial goodbye.

For Hux, this time feels different. There’s no reason for Kylo to be in his private chambers at all. The rows and rows of lieutenants and petty officers who work in the navigational computation halls are working on locating the remaining rebel scum. Reinforcements are on their way from the Unknown Region. Hux has delegated repair teams to various captains and there is nothing urgent for him to do. Hux needs to sleep. But here is the Supreme Leader, smiling and still fully clothed, and Hux realises with horror that he’s happy to see Kylo and doesn’t want to confess that he’s too exhausted to fuck because then Kylo will leave and he desperately wants Kylo to stay.

Kylo feels the change too. He watches Hux’s pink cheeked fluster.  
“What’s got into you?” asks Kylo.  
Hux shakes his head and looks down. “I thought I could keep a professional distance but I lo... I’ve fallen for you. We should stop this affair—”  
“No!”  
Kylo’s word hits Hux like a blaster bolt. In a second his hands are cradling Kylo’s head and Kylo’s lips are pressed to his. Kylo pulls him closer.  
“You don’t mind?” Hux asks.  
Kylo looks at him with his adoration no longer hidden.  
“You’re a fool,” he says. “Let’s go to bed. I could sleep for a week.”


	4. Not said to me

The hum of the Finalizer’s electricals was, for a moment, the only sound in the Supreme Leader’s suite and the dim glow of datapad screens and blueprint holos the only light. General Hux’s face reflected green and blue in turn as he lifted his head to look across the table at Kylo Ren. Kylo’s face, with dark shadowed eyes and deep red lips parted as if about to speak, looked back. Hux looked away. It wouldn’t do to stare.

“We can have a new mega star destroyer ready in weeks, Supreme Leader. The Supremacy is ready for evacuation and salvage. Have you given any thought to the name of your new flagship?”  
Kylo shook his head. “Maybe you’d like to name it.”  
“In that case,” said Hux with a wicked grin. “I propose the Armitage Hux unless you come up with something better.”  
Kylo laughed, a rare moment of levity lifting the whole room. Hux smiled at the sound then yawned.  
“We should both get some sleep,” said Kylo, yawning in response and stretching his shoulders out of their hunch. “But I want you to stay. We can resume our strategy meeting with fresher minds.”  
Hux raised his eyebrows. “My suite is nearby, I could—“  
“You’ll stay. Have your droid bring whatever you need.”

Hux tapped a message into his commlink and sat back in his chair. Kylo ordered one of his guards to bring supper from the mess then announced he was going to use the sanisteam. When he emerged, hair glistening and dripping water onto his bare shoulders, Hux was at the door. Kylo smiled and listened.

“Sir, your overnight things as requested.”  
“Thank you Kayfour.”  
“Do you require my services in the Supreme Leader’s chambers, sir?”  
“No. Please return to my suite. In the morning I will require your analysis of possible diplomatic solutions for our proposed planetary acquisitions.”  
“Yes sir. If I may be so bold as to ask a question?”  
“Oh? You require clarification of your task?”

Kylo had moved as close as possible without being noticed. Losing interest in the mundane interchange between droid and master, he took a step back and used the towel that had been around his waist to rub moisture from his hair. 

“No, sir. I merely wondered if I should interpret this errand as a sign that you have told Leader Kylo that you are in love with him.”

Kylo froze, nude but for the towel over his head. There was no escape: if Hux turned now he’d know that he’d been eavesdropping and if he tried to move he felt sure his knees would fail him. He waited for Hux to laugh in derision at his droid and prepared himself to make light of the ridiculous notion that anyone could be in love with him. But Hux’s denial did not materialise.

“Never speak of this matter, Kayfour, I told you only because I can trust you to follow orders to remain silent. Goodnight.”  
“So I should— I see. Goodnight, sir.”

Hux closed the door, turned and dropped the bag Kayfour had just delivered. His hands flew to cover his horrified expression.  
“Kylo!”  
“Um.”  
Hux peered from behind splayed fingers, trying not to stare. “What did you hear?”  
“Nothing—“ Kylo tried to reply as he wrapped the towel back around himself, but Hux cut him off before he got his words out.  
“I should go.” Hux picked up his bag and faced the door but his hand would not obey the signal from his brain to hit the control pad.  
“Please, I heard nothing unwelcome,” said Kylo quietly. “Stay.”


	5. Too quick, mumbled into your scarf

“He’s here!” Hux yells above the roaring storm, words whipped away from his lips before they reach the stormtroopers bearing the repulsorlift. “Get him into the transport!”

Snow pelts them all and Hux hunches over, greatcoat collar up and earflaps down. His eyes half close against the stinging ice and he can feel his skin tingle as if burned. The stormtroopers lift Kylo as carefully as they can and soon they’re trudging towards the rescue craft.

Inside, Hux pushes the ‘troopers back and examines Kylo himself. He’s bleeding, although the cold has helped staunch the flow, and Hux tears open a medpac to find bacta pads and bandages. The cauterised slash that runs from brow to shoulder he ignores. It’ll scar but it won’t kill him. Instead he unsheathes his monomolecular dagger with a flick of his wrist and carefully cuts away the fabric of Kylo’s tunic from the oozing wound in his side. His face screws up at the sight and he’s glad Kylo is barely conscious.

The bacta pads are not sufficient but they are all he has. Hux presses one to the ragged hole in Kylo’s skin and puts Kylo’s own hand over it to hold it in place while he overlaps another and tapes it down. Kylo hisses with the pain. 

“Nearly there,” says Hux, rearranging Kylo’s cowl around his head and neck. Kylo shivers and Hux removes his greatcoat to cover Kylo’s bandaged torso. “We’ll get you patched up properly.”  
Kyko’s eyes flicker open and he grabs Hux by the arm, pulls him closer and mutters something that sounds like _love you_ under his breath before his head falls back and he’s out again.

Hux raises his eyebrows, shakes his head and laughs.  
“Can’t we go any faster?” he shouts to the pilot. “He’s delirious!”


End file.
